The survey, which was conducted among 1,700 randomly selected car owners, didn't simply ask which car brands people liked best. Instead, they were asked to rank seven aspects of a car buying decision: design and style, performance, quality, safety, technology and innovation, value and, finally, fuel economy. Then they were asked to name which brand was a leader for each of those aspects. The results were then used to calculate the overall favorite brand.

Toyota was rated especially high in "fuel economy" and "value."

As Consumer Reports points out, perception -- which is influenced by word-of-mouth, marketing and media reports -- often takes a long time to change to reflect reality. A company could be making good cars and trucks today but, if it's been making bad or boring products for years, the perception of the brand may take a long time to improve.

Toyota's score rose five points from last year while Ford's rose four. Chevrolet's score went up 13 points while Honda's perception score went down 16 points, resulting in those two brands nearly tying each other.